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Statewide data on standardized testing released

It could be as long as two weeks before the public knows how students in Clarke County and the state’s other public school systems performed, on average, on the state’s Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, and it could be almost a month before the data are available for individual schools, according to a state Department of Education release late last week of statewide data on the final administration of the CRCT.

The CRCT tests children in grades 1-8 in reading, English/language arts and mathematics, with students in grades 3-8 also being tested in science and social studies.

Beginning next year, students in grades 3-8 will take Georgia Milestones tests. According to a news release from the Georgia Department of Education, the new tests “will include open-ended questions to better gauge students’ content mastery and, with some exceptions for special-education students with specific testing accommodations, will be administered entirely online by the fifth year of implementation.”

As far as the final administration of the CRCT is concerned, the statewide data show that almost 8 percent of third-graders did not meet the state reading standard, more than 11 percent of third-graders did not meet the English/language arts standard, and almost 20 percent did not meet mathematics standard. Nearly 23 percent did not meet the science standard, and slightly more than 16 percent did not meet the social studies standard.

For fourth graders, the percentage of students failing to meet standards, by subject area, were 6.4 percent in reading, 11.3 percent in English/language arts, 18.3 percent in math, 19.1 percent in science and 18.8 percent in social studies.

Fifth-grade percentages of failing to meet standards were 5.2 percent in reading, 5.3 percent in English/language arts, 12.3 percent in math, 18.1 percent in science and 19.3 percent in social studies.

Slightly less than 3 percent of sixth-graders didn’t meet the reading standard, while 8.2 percent fell short in English/language arts, 15.9 percent missed the math standard, and almost 25 percent did not meet the science standard. Slightly more than 20 percent of sixth-graders failed to meet the social studies standard.

According to the education department, 5.3 percent of seventh-graders didn’t meet the reading standard. That number was 6.1 percent in English/language arts, 12.4 percent in math, 15.8 percent in science, and 16.5 percent in social studies.

The numbers for eighth grade were 3 percent not meeting the reading standard, 5.5 percent not meeting the English/language arts standard, 18.5 percent falling short on the math standard, 22.1 percent not meeting the science standard, and 19.4 percent not meeting the social studies standard.

Complete statewide data on the 2014 CRCT administration are available on the Georgia Department of Education website at http://bit.ly/UCc9NF.

According to an Associated Press story on the 2014 CRCT data released last week, “more of Georgia’s seventh- and eighth-grade students exceeded reading standards than their peers did in 2012. But Georgia’s youngest students didn’t keep pace. State education officials said late last week that 53 percent of Georgia’s eighth graders exceeded standards, improving by eight percentage points from the 2012-13 school year. About 42 percent of seventh-graders also exceeded reading standards, also improving 8 percentage points on last year’s results. Eighth-graders also made small gains in science and math. Georgia officials say less than half of third-graders surpassed reading standards, a 5 percent decrease from last year.”

In its own announcement on the CRCT data, the Georgia Department of Education noted the “percentage of Georgia’s eighth graders exceeding standards in all content-area Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) increased this year, including an 8 percentage point increase in reading. Grade 8 students showed a 2 percentage point increase in English/language arts, a 3 percentage point increase in mathematics, a 3 percentage point increase in science, and 2 percentage point increase in social studies.”

The DOE went on to note that “students in Georgia’s elementary and middle schools secured gains, as measured by the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the standards, on 14 of 30 content-area CRCTs taken this year. Eight areas showed no change, while another eight areas showed decreases. Decreases ranged from 1 to 2 percentage points while increases ranged from 1 to 4 percentage points. No decreases were experienced on reading tests: grades 4, 5 and 6 saw gains, while grades 3, 7 and 8 stayed the same.”

Data on CRCT performance for individual school systems will be available no later than June 26, and school-level results will be available no later than July 10, according to the education department.